William w



(No Model.)

W. W. ANDERSON.

Y GARMENT CLASP.

Patented Oct. 31, 1882.

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UNITED STATES PATENT EEIcEc WILLIAM IY. ANDERSON, F NEW YORK, N. Y.

GARM ENT-CLASP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 266,948, dated October 31, 1882.

Application filed March 31, 1882.

j ments it has been found desirable to reduce the thickness of the clasp as much as possible, because it wears away the garment in contact with it, and it is also liable to injure the body, if it accidentally comes in contact with hard objects in the vicinity: Another practical defect is the liability of the exposed end of the lever to catch in the contiguous garment during movements of the body or while dressing or undressing. It is also liable to be liberated by accidental pressure against'some object in the vicinity. These defects I have remedied; and' therefore my invention consists, first, in so constructing and arranging a pair ofworking-levers upon a plate, one of said levers being substantially rigid and unyielding, that when in use and the levers are operating up on the webbing or fabric the surf'ace of the yielding lever shall fall behind and below the surface of the unyieldin g lever, or very nearly so; and, secondly,in making the spiral spring which controls the levers of flat wire instead of round, as has heretofore been done, for the purpose of making the clasp thin or dat, and so as not to interfere with or wear the part of the garment which comes in contact with the surface.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 repv resents a top or surface view of my improvements, and also a portion of the interior of the clasp by dotted lines. Fig. 2 represents a longitudinal section through the middle of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 represents separately the operating spiral spring made of fiat wire.

The figures in the drawings are drawn largely in excess of the size of the clasp as made for use, in order the more plainly to show the construction.

In each of the figures the same letters represent the same parts.

Upon the flat narrow plate A, I arrange the two levers B (l, the sides of which, bent at right angles to their surfaces, form checks,

(No model.)

which correspond to and `shut over similar checks of the under plate, through which checks passes the pin or fulcrum D D, and upon which fulcrum D is arranged the fiat spiral springE E. Upon .the prolonged ends c c, Fig. 3, which project in opposite directions, the levers are made to press, so that the reacting force of the spring will press the outer ends of the levers down, so as to hold between their edges and the edges of the under plate the webbing or part of the garment to which they are to be applied; and for this purpose the edges of the levers and the under plate are bent toward each other, and may be provided with projections or teeth, if desired. The upper lever, B, is intended to grasp the end of a piece of webbing, G, which is only to be removed when a new webbing is required, and it is therefore made shorter than the lever G, and the spring E, acting upon the shorter end, is made very strong to hold the opposite end down with a force sufficient to render this lever practically unyieldin g to any force to which it can be subjected in ordinary use, so as to firmly hold and secure the webbing in the clasp. The lever C,which is intended to take hold of the garment to be supported, H, has the spring and fulcrum at a greater distance from the edge which is to grasp the garment by reason ofthe greater length of the lever, and it is also easier opened and applied bythe pressure of the finger upon the inner end of the lever, which is necessary, as it is usual to unclasp the lever from the garment daily, or as often as it may be desirable. The outer or free end of the yielding lever Gis arranged to fall close behind the free end of the rigid lever B, and so that it will 'not project above the plane ofthe surface of said lever. The lever B therefore acts as a guard for the lever G to prevent the garments from catching on the free end of said lever either in use or while dressing or undressin g.

In order to reduce the thickness of the clasp, it has been customary to cut away the upper and thelower plates opposite the coils of the spring, and thereby reduce the thickness of the clasp by a quantity equal to the thickness of the plates. This perforation of the plate weakens it and exposes the spring to wear and to obstructions by accumulation of lint, Svc. I ani IOC able to still further reduce the thickness of the clasp Without perforatingthe plates by employingrr a coiled spring of dat wire, as shown.

The shorterlever,B,is bent at its inner end,

5 i', Fig. 2, toward the'lower plate, A, so as nearly to touch it. This limits the play or movement of the lever and provides against straining the spring, as'would be the case if the inner end, i', should be pressed down too io fer for the strength of the spring.

Having thus described my improved clasp and the manner of constructing and using the same, what I claim thereon as my invention 1S 1. In a clasp for a garment-supporter, the r 5 short nnyielding webbing-clamp B, combined With the yielding lever C, the free end Whereof is arranged to fall behind and be protected by said lever B, as set forth.

2. A garment supporter consisting` of a zo base-plate, A, provided at one end with suitable means for .attaching the webbing, and the clamp-lever G, actuated by a coiled spring of dat Wire, substantially as shown and described.

t WM. W. ANDERSON.

Witnesses:

J. B. STAPLEs, i, EUGENE BANTA. 

